Tag Archives: summer body

Another year older…another year wiser. This was a trying year for me but I did my best to push through all of the struggles…and come out stronger from it all.

I started a new career in a brand new field. It’s been quite the journey but I’ve never been happier going to work everyday. I finally understand what it means when people say it doesn’t feel like work. I may have had some financial struggles as a result, forcing some parts of my life to go backwards…but it’s all been worth it.

My shoulder finally gave out and I had no choice but to confront the issue that had been plaguing me for a long time. Being told you need surgery is tough on anyone but when you need your muscles to make a living…it’s that much worse. Combine that with the inability to properly workout…causing some weight gain and A LOT of muscle loss…and it can be mentally debilitating.

No one really tells you how hard it is mentally to get through injury recovery. Everyone talks about the physical element….but no one discussing how truly horrible it is to an otherwise healthy mindset. I’ve touched on this quite a bit on my Instagram and in past blog posts but it can’t be said enough. Despite my daily struggles and how I’ve seemingly gone backwards in how I view my own body…I’ve managed to make a pretty decent comeback. I am wrapping up a 6-week shred where I lost weight and regained my muscle & strength. I’m not at 100% but I’m damn close to where I left off a few years ago. I’ve also been working with a trainer/co-worker on corrective exercises. I’ll be writing a full blog post on this soon but suffice to say that if you are going through PT post-op, you should hire a personal trainer as soon as you are cleared. When you suffer an injury, you compensate for that pain and injury by using other muscles and seemingly doing exercises incorrectly. This will ultimately lead to even worse problems down the line. It’s well worth the time and money to invest in someone who can redirect you back to proper form & help get your strength back safely.

As I enter a new year of life, I’ve also come to some level of acceptance. For my entire life all I ever dreamed of was being married and having babies. While I still want those things, I’ve come to accept that when it’s meant to happen it will…and hopefully with the perfect person (for me). I may not be getting younger but I’m done making myself miserable over things I can’t control. I’m choosing to focus on something I can control – my own happiness. Other people can’t dictate that – only I can. That’s been my focus since New Year’s and will continue to be throughout this year. After all, eventually everything that’s meant to be falls into place.

So it goes, another year older & another year wiser. Here’s hoping this year is filled with lots of laughter, good health, and great memories.

Hard to believe but week 5 is in the books! For those following along, I apologize for my crazy delay on updating you all. If you follow along on Instagram , you will see that I’ve been eating pretty much the same stuff and working out as much as possible. Life got pretty hectic over the last few weeks but I’ve managed to work in cardio wherever I can as well as my weight lifting days. While my diet has been mostly the same, I have stepped it up this week and gotten a little more strict. I cut WAY back on my carbs. Surprisingly, I haven’t been overly hungry or having weird sugar cravings. This has been my best “cut” yet. My workouts may not have been perfect and my schedule may have been chaotic…but I have seen some amazing results! I also had quite the non-scale victory…in Charlotte Russe of all places…while searching for a birthday outfit:

I didn’t buy that dress…but I did buy one even sexier and tighter.

I got to wear that dress confidently for my birthday celebration with friends last night. We had a very late dinner followed by drinks and dancing the night away. I decided that I’d keep it fairly healthy and safe for my stomach

I didn’t eat the lettuce, as it had some sort of weird dressing on it. However I ate the rest, along with a taste of the table appetizer and was more than satisfied. For drinks, I stuck to one liquor (tequila) all night. I didn’t mix it with more than a splash of club soda and a few limes.

I didn’t eat the dessert or bread that the restaurant provided either. I had a great time, didn’t get bloated or sick, and felt content. You don’t have to restrict your whole life to keep your diet in check. Allow yourself to enjoy the special moments in life and all of the food that comes with it. I may have had a pretty healthy night…but that’s what I wanted to have. I know ice cream cake along with Mexican and ballpark food await me this week…so for me it wasn’t worth it to pig out last night. Besides…there wasn’t room for much food in that dress 😉

As I enter the final week of this shred (and my birthday week), I have to say this really has been the most successful “cut” that I’ve ever done. I don’t feel like binging…and I got the results that I wanted. Could my abs show more? Yes. Could I weigh less? Probably. However, this was the healthiest, most realistic way to lean out that worked for ME. I will likely keep going beyond this week, so as to keep myself in check throughout the summer. I may not be AS strict but I will keep my diet as clean as possible and workout as hard as my body allows.

If you’ve been following this shred along with me…stay strong! We are in the homestretch! Keep up with my workouts & meals on Instagram and MyFitnessPal. We got this!

What a week! The second week of my Summer Shred definitely didn’t go as I intended…but it wasn’t all lost. I stuck to my meal plan and my macros were almost perfect everyday. I lost a pound despite not working out as hard as I wanted to and I’m noticing my waist get smaller and smaller everyday!

While a stressful, busy work week kept me away from my own workouts most days…my diet was great. Here’s how the last few days looked:

Thursday, 4/27 – 4 oz of ground turkey with 2 oz of sweet potato and mushrooms along with that had just lettuce and a sprinkle of cheese.

Friday, 4/28 – I had run out of meal prepped food…so I had a salad with lettuce, mushrooms, and cheese along with the remaining 2 oz of sweet potato

Saturday, 4/29 – I went to lunch with a co-worker after a very long but successful event for work. I had a HUGE Greek salad with grilled chicken and a few slices of grilled pita

Sunday, 4/30 – No lunch, since my breakfast was brunch…at 1 pm

Snacks: Pretty much the same everyday – RX Bars, Oh Yeah bars, frozen blueberries with crystal light, carrots or rice cake with PB, and cottage cheese. I also had Phormula1 shakes or BCAAs in my water.

Dinner: I had cauliflower almost everyday….which has destroyed my stomach. Laying off that and all other super gassy veggies this week.

My macros were pretty good, all things considered. My fats were a little high the last two days but otherwise they were spot on:

Beginning tomorrow, I will be incorporating cardio into every workout…everyday. It’s gonna suck but I have to make up for lost time. Friday is Cinco de Mayo and anyone who knows me knows how much I die for Mexican food…& margaritas. I may allow myself a taco or two but I won’t go crazy. This girl has a goal and once I reach it, I can celebrate with as many margaritas and/or tequila shots my heart desires!

I plan on keeping my diet mostly the same but maybe incorporating other protein bars into the mix. Seems the coffee RX bars I love so much are discontinued and while I do enjoy other flavors, it’s just not the same. So I’ll mix it up a bit. My workouts will be as follows:

Monday– upper body + cardio

Tuesday– lower body + cardio

Wednesday– upper body (PT)

Thursday– lower body + cardio

Friday– total body (PT)

Saturday– cardio (1 hour)

Since Sunday is the annual fitness expo at MetLife, I doubt I’ll do a workout. I’ll make that an active rest day, as there will be plenty of walking and whatever else I can get myself into.

Oh Tuesday 😩 This was such a long, crazy day…I legit thought it was a different day. With so many errands and so much work to do today, I only managed a 15 minute cardio session (on the stair master, of course). I could’ve done nothing and had plenty of excuses for it. But what good would that have done? I figured doing a little bit of something is always better than doing nothing at all. Besides, tomorrow is my PT session so I’ll surely make up for it then!

Despite the chaotic day, I kept my diet in check. Calories and macros were pretty much perfect! Here’s how the day looked:

I haven’t been crazy hungry or having weird cravings this go around. I will say my sweet tooth has reared it’s ugly head…but I’ve found the “sour patch” blueberries really do the trick.

I sat in a ton of traffic…after spending more time than anticipated getting new car insurance 🙄 so I wasn’t able to get in a crazy workout. BUT I did manage to get in 25 minutes of good, sweaty cardio. 15 minutes on the arc trainer, 10 minutes on the old school stair master = 200 calories burned!

My diet was on point today…and my macros were just about perfect. Here’s what my day looked like:

How is it already Sunday?? Where does the weekend go?! Well. At any rate…we’ve reached a full week!

My weekend was pretty hectic but I did my best to stick to the plan anyway. I carried my snacks and water around to avoid outside food. I did bend a little and have some sushi today. After all, I have been craving sushi for a long time. I’m not allowing myself much but I did have that today.

Overall, my carbs were higher than they should’ve been both days. As far as exercise, I did nothing yesterday. I was super sore and let my body rest. Today, I walked a mile at the beach. Wasn’t crazy but it was something. I’ll get back to it tomorrow.